County officials say winter’s failure to loosen its grip on the Fox Valley this year has had an impact beyond the fading patience of residents, who are awaiting warm conditions. Snow and freezing rain in the early months of the year have decimated spending plans for winter road maintenance.

County budgets for winter maintenance are set in a calendar year. Funds are typically expended in the first three and last two months of the year. With winter work extending well into April, highway departments already have thought ahead on how they’ll handle next winter.

Winnebago County’s highway department has received county board approval for an additional $350,000, beyond its $550,000 budget, for 2013 to assure road safety when November and December roll around.

Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson projected a $500,000 shortfall by year’s end to its $1.2 million road maintenance budget.

Budgeting comes down to predicting the unpredictable. Sometimes, there are funds to spare at the end of the year. Other times, budgets aren’t sufficient to cover costs.

Regardless, safe roads are among the non-negotiable items when it comes to public services, Nelson said. Life doesn’t stop when the snow flies and costs would only grow higher if roads were left slick or snow-covered, he said.

“There are fewer accidents,” Nelson said. “Fewer cars slip into the ditch. There is a very real public safety benefit of having a very well-funded highway department.”

Mike Ottery, Calumet County highway commissioner, said there’s a method to budgeting, but its far from foolproof. He said he plans for 40 or 50 winter weather events that would require trucks out on the road.

“We’re already at 50 for this year,” he said.

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Ottery said his department has the luxury of being a touch more conservative on when to plow and salt, given lower traffic counts in Calumet County compared to nearby counties with greater populations.

The winter season was not kind to Calumet County crews.

The county has already spent about $443,000 — nearly 93 percent of its 2013 budget for winter maintenance of county roads — and has $35,000 left for the tail end of the calendar. The county spent nearly 96 percent of the maintenance funds for state highways within Calumet’s borders.

Ottery and Nelson said cutbacks in summer maintenance duties would help balance out the recent winter’s tough financial demands in their respective counties.

Nelson said prior to this year, Outagamie County had just one month in the last decade that required more than $500,000 in road maintenance spending. This year, the county exceeded that figure in both February and March.

Winters was unable last week to determine if the salting season has fallen behind. Like everyone else, he is waiting for the grass to green and temperatures to stay above the dreaded freezing point.

It was a relatively average year as far as major snow events, Winters said.

As for the season as a whole, it was anything but average.

“It’s been a lot of small events,” Winters said. “They just never stopped.”